Lesson's learn't & Different directions taken...

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Tue, 2010-06-15 03:48 — JLandT Railroad

Trackwork

Hi All,

A little update on some changes that I made to our test module. Originally I had the base top as 3/4" plywood, this coupled together with the 4x1" pine frame actually made the module quiet heavy. So after some great ideas from fellow MRH modellers (thanks again Russ) I decided to go with the 1/8" Luan Pine door skin as a base, and use a product here in Australia called "Canite" it is a basically sugar cane husk compressed with a plastic backing. Not sure if it is the same as Homasite as used in the USA? It is extremely light, great for pinning track into, will hold caulk and white glue really well too.

The Luan base is nailed down to the pine frame, and the Canite is screwed to Luan and Pine frame. This way it will make it easy to remove, as this is going to be a chainsaw. It will also allow easy redevelopment of the layout if the CEO becomes bored of the design at a future date...

The product is available at most of our larger hardware stores and is quite reasonable for price, this sheet was 8' x 4' for $50au. I may try plaster wallboard on another module, but I'm quite happy with the Canite for the moment.

I also did the track and cork roadbed again today using the caulk method to secure both, used a charcoal coloured, interior caulk to attach the cork to the Canite & the track to the cork roadbed. Was really easy and will be my preferred method when the layout is started.

I've started installing the road crossover into the trackwork, it will be simulating a preformed concrete crossover using Evergreen Styrene sheets. It is made up of 3 small squares of 0.30" the width of 3 ties glued, then one strip of 0.30" - 30' scale feet long & 4'1/4" scale feet wide, and finally the same again in 0.20" to finish flush with the top of the Code 83 Rail. I have made 6 individual 5' scale,concrete squares that I have scribed and drilled mounting holes into.

I will take some more photos of the crossover tomorrow in daylight to show the detail, and also further work on the crossover and roads.

Cheers,

Jas...

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Jason the thicker product

Tue, 2010-06-15 10:13 — Rio Grande Dan

Jason the thicker product your showing in your photos made of compressed recycled news print is what we Call Homosote in the states a lot of ceiling tiles are made of the stuff for drop ceilings and larger 4 ft X 8ft sheets are used as insulation and for underlay on second floors of buildings to keep the sound from people walking down to a minimum so people on the floors below don't hear their up stair neighbors moving around.

Luan Plywood is made from Phillipineo Mahogany and comes in two basic thicknesses 1/8 inch = 3.175mm & 1/4 inch = 6.350 mm. The Luan tree grow in the tropics and are about the least expensive plywood made as these trees grow as much as 30 feet wide at their Base and upward of 200 feet tall and only take 10-12 years to achieve this size. It's main purpose in the states is it is used as an underlayment on wood and concrete floors to cover and level out imperfections in order to apply Tile and Linoleum flooring.

Now for the track base , your Bamboo product sounds like a a nice prodict.

Is it flexable or does it come in large sheets like ply wood?

Dan

Rio Grande Dan

Some more progress today on

Tue, 2010-06-15 22:05 — JLandT Railroad

Some more progress today on the crossover. Installed the centre concrete sections and scribed the individual sections and bolt hole detail, then glued to the trackwork.

Then installed some Luan pine to build up the levels to match the top of the Code 83 rail once the Styrene sheet was installed. I used this close to the rail to get a good fix with the adhesive and used cardboard on the ends.